✝️ The Counter-Intuitive Strength of Surrender

Good morning, my brothers! If there’s one thing that goes against every masculine instinct we have, it’s surrender. From childhood, we’re taught that giving up means defeat, that strength means control. Yet this week, we’re exploring how surrender to God—the ultimate act of courage—is actually the source of our greatest strength. I've spent my life fighting against this truth, learning the hard way that “my will be done” leads to waste and pain while “Thy will be done” leads to joy and purpose. If you know men struggling with their own stubborn resistance to God's lead, please forward this issue to them. Let’s go!

This week’s manly topics (5-min read):

🧠 MINDSET Living life fueled by God’s strength versus living life fueled by our “strength” is like the difference between running your car on high-octane fuel versus corn syrup. This week, we learn how to make the switch.
📰  NEWS We look at two things that will make you stronger and sharper … and neither require a catastrophic crash and $6 million in bionic parts.
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MINDSET
The Counter-Intuitive Strength of Surrender

“I surrender all.”

I'm not sure how many times I’ve either sung those words or prayed them, but it’s probably hundreds of times. The classic hymn by the same name is one of my all-time favorites. It speaks to me and moves me like few others do.

Yet for most of us men, the very concept of surrender runs counter to our basic instincts. Everything in our nature resists it. We're wired to survive, to stand our ground, to maintain control. From childhood, we're taught that surrendering means weakness, defeat, or failure. It's no wonder that genuinely surrendering to God—even when we intellectually know it’s best—becomes one of the most difficult spiritual challenges we face.

If you could see into my heart, you would see that I really do desire to be fully surrendered to living for Jesus. I want Him to rule and reign in my life, know His ways and timing are perfect, know He has my best in mind, and desire His will to be done, not my own.

So why in the world has it been so hard to live that way every day, every moment? Why do I continually fall short of living a life fully devoted and surrendered to God, even though it's really what I want?

The answer I keep coming back to is: Me. I’m the reason. I'm a new creation in Christ, yes, but the old man, my sin nature, keeps rearing its ugly head in my life, and I choose to let it fool me into thinking I know better than God and that my timing makes more sense than His does. There's something deeply embedded in us as men that resists relinquishing control, even when that control is an illusion.

If I look back on most of the pain and struggles in my life (maybe all of them?), one theme plays out: I insisted, “My will be done” and not “Thy will be done.” I resisted the Holy Spirit and I attempted to control things and people to do what I thought was “best.” I didn't heed the people God put in my life (my wife included) to give me His counsel.

I can see a few of you nodding your heads in agreement. I get a ton of emails from guys upon subscribing who respond to the question of what's holding them back from being all the man God has called them to be, and one answer I hear frequently is “Me. I keep getting in the way of God.”

Can I get an “Amen”?

Finding God’s Strength in Surrender

As I continually wrestle with this seeming dichotomy in my life, I am comforted, as always, by what Scripture teaches us. A simple verse found early in John's Gospel records the words of John the Baptist. Simply put, he says:

This isn’t about shrinking into passivity or becoming weak. It's about redirecting our strength toward what truly matters. The paradox for us as men is that our greatest strength often emerges when we stop fighting against God and align our considerable energy with His purposes.

To live a fully surrendered life, the Holy Spirit must fill me up so that there is little room left over for the stubborn old me to try to reassert itself. I need more of Him guiding, directing, and leading and little, if any, of me. But how do I truly hand over control to the Holy Spirit?

The Daily Surrender Challenge

For men especially, surrender isn't a one-time decision but a daily, sometimes hourly, choice to relinquish our grip on circumstances we can't control anyway. It requires acknowledging that our need to be in charge often stems more from fear than from strength.

I've prayed about what surrender might look like daily, asking God to show me how I get into the posture of surrender. He showed that if it's me that gets in the way, it's me I need to surrender. So, I do, very specifically, from head to toe during my daily prayer time...and then reach back into specific areas of the prayer when situations arise or temptation pops up. As you've seen above, I don't live it perfectly, but this prayer template has helped put “meat to the bone” for me in what the surrendered life looks like.

The MTM Daily Surrender Prayer

Want to become more the man God has designed you to be? Pray this prayer each morning:

Lord, I surrender my MIND to You this morning. Holy Spirit, guide and direct my thoughts so that they are Your thoughts. Help me see the lies of the enemy as they try to sneak into my thinking. Guide my decisions so they are pleasing in your sight. Give me right thinking to know your greatness. As I study your word, make me teachable, teach me what you have, and give me the ability to remember and live this new truth.

Lord, I surrender my EYES to You today. Help me to see people as you see them, circumstances through your lens. Keep my eyes from all things not pleasing to you and to look away immediately when You would.

God, I surrender my EARS to You today. In all my conversations, let me hear as You do. Give me discernment to back away immediately from discussions that are not honoring to You.

Father, I surrender my MOUTH to You today. May the words I speak come from true humility and encourage and uplift all those who hear them. Speak through me today. When I need to speak hard truth, may it only come from Your love. May nothing harsh, judgmental, or not pleasing to you come from my lips. May praise and thanksgiving to You be a hallmark of my day today.

Lord, I surrender my HEART and WILL to You today. Your will be done, not mine, Lord. May I delight in You and Your word above all else. Change me, Lord, so Your best is my heart's desire, and my wants and wishes become nothing in light of Yours. Help me truly to love others before myself. Keep my heart pure and immediately alert me when it becomes impure.

Today, Lord, I surrender my HANDS to You. Help me join You in the work You are doing. Keep me from activities that distract me from You and the good of others. Keep my hands from anything that is not pleasing in Your sight.

God, I surrender my FEET to You this morning. Show me where You want me to go today. Lead me to people who need to hear about You or be encouraged in Your love. Keep me from becoming weary when You lead. And keep me from places I should not go, that will lead to temptation and sin.

The Surrender Paradox

The truth is, surrendering to God doesn’t diminish our masculinity—it fulfills it. When we align our strength with His purposes rather than wasting it on our own stubborn pursuits, we become more effective leaders, providers, and protectors. We gain access to wisdom beyond our own limited understanding and power beyond our natural capabilities.

The above is one way that I'm trying to surrender all of me to All of Him. Believe me, I fail all the time, but I feel as though I'm failing forward (most times) when I do, learning and growing to be more like Him in His mercy and grace.

Let’s be men who want more of God in us and through us. Let’s be men fully surrendered to God, living in such a way that we're guided by the Holy Spirit, living in humility, recognizing God’s greatness and perfection … and giving ourselves grace when we fail by repenting and renewing our commitment to full surrender.

True masculine strength isn't found in dominating our circumstances or others, but in having the courage to surrender our lives to the One who made us for His purposes. That's the kind of strength that changes not just our lives, but the world around us.

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